Until It's Over
by CloudyBlueSkies
Summary: Sequal to Challenge. Four months later, the threat is back and Emi fights to keep her relationship with Takashi.- Complete
1. Meetings

**Here's the sequal to Challenge!!!**

**YaY!!!!**

**No, I don't own Ouran High School Host Club characters.**

* * *

"It's been three months already." Fujioka Haruhi said to her sempai, Kichida Emiko. When it was apparent the older girl was not listening, she said it again.

"Huh?" Emi said.

"I said that it's surprising we've already been in school for three months. It doesn't seem like it has been that long."

"Oh yeah, it has." Then she went back to staring off. She was staring at the door, waiting for him to walk through it and make her terrible day better by just being in the same room as him. It had been four months since Ichiro had disapeared from the country. She was paranoid about it, despite her father assurances that he'll be found. Three months since Takashi and Mitsukuni had graduated. The Host Club was still on hold for awhile, even though the headmaster had given them the yes. Tamaki wasn't willing to do it anymore and without Tamaki, no one else wanted to open back up either. Takashi usually gave her a ride home from school; it was really their only time to see each other until the Host Club was opened back up. But a few minutes was better than not seeing each other at all. The Host Club was still out of the loop that they were in relationship. Of course, they weren't even sure what their relationship was yet. Emi didn't know what she wanted to do with the rest of her life yet, and she didn't want to figure it out until she was sure Ichiro would be out of her life forever.

"Emi-sempai, are you okay?" Haruhi asked.

That was when Takashi walked through the doors, "I'm perfectly fine Haruhi, perfectly fine."

* * *

Takashi had left Mitsukuni to defend for himself as soon as they'd walked into the High School. His small cousin had been plagued by girls gushing that they hadn't seen him in a long time. No doubt his admirers would catch up with him at any moment. He'd been concerned that Emi would be jealous of the girls would requested him at the Host Club, but she'd just laughed when he mentioned it. "I think its funny Takashi, don't worry about it." She hadn't completely changed, but she wasn't the person she had been four months ago. She was still a merciless tease, and she would still occasionally act, but her days of challenges and playing games with people were over.

Something had been bothering her recently but she didn't talk about it to him.

But when he saw her sitting next to Haruhi, he forgot his concerns about her not talking to him. As soon as she saw him, her face broke out into a wide smile, lighting up her blue eyes. Sometimes it was hard to believe she was his.

"Hello Takashi-sempai." Emi said with a sly grin, "How are you today?"

"Fine."

"That's good."

"Emi-chan!" Mitsukuni cried, running and hugging her, "We haven't seen you in forever!"

Emi laughed, "I saw you yesterday Mitsukuni-sempai."

"That's too long! Lets' go!" and he pulled her out of her chair and out of the room.

Takashi hung his head with a hint of embarassment and followed after his cousin to retrive his girlfriend. He found them waiting for him outside the room, "I hope you weren't too embarassed Takashi." Mitsukuni said.

"I wasn't." but he didn't look at his cousin when he said it, his eyes were only for Emi.

The small university student rolled his eyes, "Whatever Takashi. I'll see you later."

When he was out of earshot, Emi turned on Takashi, "What was that about?"

"A little jealous."

"Of me?"

"Of me."

"Oh, you got a girlfriend before he did."

"Yes."

She smiled, "That's his loss then." She pulled him down the few inches to kiss him. It was a good thing she was 5`8, or Mori would have to bend down farther. Of course, four months ago, she'd been 5`6 but she'd grown two extra inches. It wasn't surprising for her to grow later, her brothers hadn't really grown until their last year of high school either. In fact, her brothers had bets on how tall she'd get. Kanaye, the younger one had bets on 5`10 but Ryou, the older one, had his bets on her hitting six foot. Emi figured she'd stay at 5`8, it was a perfectly fine height for her. It was perfect for her to rest her head under his. She let out a sigh.

"Tired?" he asked, stroking her hair.

"Yeah." She murmmured.

"I'll take you home." And he took her hand and led her away.

"You always do."

* * *

It had been a few years since the four of them had been in the same room to discuss the same subject. Yuzuru Souh, Akira Morinozuka, Yorihisa Hanoinzuka and Hiroshi Kichida had known each other in high school. The only one missing was Yoshio Ootori, but he wasn't directly involved in this. Akira, Yorihisa and Hiroshi had been a year ahead of Yuzuru and Yoshio. Back in their high school years, they had been friends and they were all happy to see their children be friends as well without hardly any parental influence (Kyouya didn't count).

"What's this about Yuzuru?" Yorihisa asked.

"Our children."

"What about them?"

"You know that they might be in danger." Hiroshi said, "Our pasts are coming back on our children. You can't deny that Yorihisa."

"Your right Hiroshi, but we can't do anything until he reveals himself first."

"You can't be suggesting that!" he stood up, "I won't use my daughter as bait!"

Yorihisa stood up as well, "Do you think I like putting my son at risk as well?"

"But this is my _daughter_, my _little girl_."

"And Takashi is my heir, what is the difference? We all have children Hiroshi." Akira said, butting into their argument, "Calm down and lets talk about this."

The Kichida and Hanoinouka heads sat down, "I'm sorry Yorihisa, I just don't want to lose my daughter now that I've got her back for more than a few months. I understand that you have to go through this too with your son."

"Are we just going to wait then?" Yuzuru asked.

"We might as well." Akira said.

Hiroshi crossed his arms, "I don't like this."

"None of us do." Yuzuru said, "But if we want to catch him, then this is the only way to keep them safe."

"Your right. Well, I have to get home, Tanaka will be wondering where I am." Hiroshi stood up and left. After he shut the door, it reopened. "Do you have more to say Akira?" he asked.

"I'm just on my way home too."

"Are you going to tell your boy?"

"Probably. The others will tell theirs as well."

"I'll tell my boys, but I'm not going to tell Emi, she's in the most danger and she's already the most worried."

They came to the door, and before getting into separate cars, Akira Morinozuka paused, "There is something else I wanted to mention."

"What?"

"Takashi, he's been acting. . . odd. I think it has something to do with your daughter."

"Has he fallen in love with her?"

"I don't know."

They locked eyes, "Lets hope not." Hiroshi said and got into his car.

* * *

**Please click that loverly button in the middle of the screen to review!!!**

**~Cloudy**


	2. Trouble Coming

**Here's chapter 2!!!**

**I don't own the characters of the Host Club. **

* * *

"I'm going out dad." Emi announced at breakfast.

He raised an eyebrow, "Out to where?"

"Oh, just. . . out."

"I'm not letting you go 'out' unless I know where you're going."

Of course, she couldn't actually tell him where she was going, lying would be her only option, "Kyouya's."

"You've been going there quite a lot lately."

Going Kyouya's had been her excuses of late, but half the time she had been going to his house just to make the lie seem less like an acutal lie. She was actually going to see Takashi. For once, she was uncomfortable with lying to people about this relationship. Eh, she'd get over it, "Well, he's my best friend." Hopefully he wasn't getting suspicious. Kanaye was and he kept dropping hints about it. Her brother was not a secretive person.

"You spend an awful lot of time at your best friend's house." Kanaye said meaningfully.

Emi shot him a look, "Stop being annoying."

"I live to annoy you."

"Since when?"

"Since you were old enough to annoy me."

"I don't-"

"Cut it out you two." Their father cut them off, "You can go Emiko." He looked at his younger son meaningfully, "Any issues with that?"

Kanaye looked down at his plate, "No."

Something was going on between her father and her brother and she did not like it. Could they be keeping some kind of secret? That was the only explanation she could come up with, they had acted like that before, when they were keeping secrets. But she was keeping a secret too so she left it alone.

* * *

"Do you have any plans today Takashi?" his father asked.

"Yes."

"I hope they're not important because I have to talk to you about something important."

Of course, his plans were important, but something in his fathers' voice made him say, "I can." Now he would have to call Emi and explain to her that he couldn't see her today.

After he hung up he felt awful, but he didn't have time to dwell on it as his father entered his room, "There's some things you need to know."

* * *

It hurt a little that he'd cancelled their plans, but Emi realized now that she had to actually go to Kyouya's house. Or she could go somewhere else on the pretenses of going to Kyouya's as she had been planning to do anyway. While Kyouya was her friend, she didn't feel like talking to him right now.

Emi felt like walking through the park, it was what she and Takashi would have been doing anyway because it was such a nice day. She donned normal, non-designer clothes and headed out to the train station. She liked taking public transportation; it was an interesting glance into the lives of other people. Also you could always find nice people on the trains. It was mid-day and her train was one of ones less traveled so it wasn't very crowded.

"Good afternoon Emi-chan." An elderly woman said, "Come sit with me."

"Of course grandma." She sat down next to the woman she affectionatly called grandma. Aimi Murakami was seventy-nine years old with four children she raised after her husband died, and she still rode the train to her job she had worked at for over fifty years.

"Are you off to see your boyfriend today Emi-chan?"

"Not today, I'm off for a walk."

They chatted until Emi's stop came up, "I'll see you later grandma."

"Have fun Emi-chan."

It was a wonderful day out. The sun was shining, throwing everything into a different light for her. She shouldn't be so dissapointed that Takashi wasn't here, it was a beauiful day and she should enjoy it. There weren't a lot of people out, and everyone was with someone holding hands. Now that made her feel lonely.

"Hello Kichida Emiko." Said the voice that haunted her nightmares.

She whipped around, "What are you doing here?" she tried to sound brave, but the fear could still be heard in her voice.

"Nothing, as long as you do exactly what I say." yamada Ichiro said.

She looked around for someone nearby, but they were inconviently alone, "No."

"Really." He put his hands on his hips, pulling back his jacket revealing the knife, "I'm not here to hurt you, just talk to you."

"About what?"

He held out his hand, "Take my hand and walk with me." When she shrunk away, he took her hand and hauled her forward, "Don't look so surprised to see me. Your father probably told you I was back in town."

So he was keeping a secret, "Yeah, I just didn't think you'd show your face."

"I'm just here as a warning." He kept a tight grip on her hand and turned to face her, "I will destroy your life."

"Why?"

"Your father never told you?"

"Refresh my memory."

"Your father helped put my father in jail. Your father, Yuzuru Souh, Akira Morinozuka and Yorihisa Hanoinzuka. I want my revenge, and I will get it and you and all their children will suffer. But you and the Morinozuka boy will suffer the most." He pulled out a manilla envelope. "Just a warning." And he walked off.

Emi didn't have to open the envelope to figure out what was in it.

Pictures.

Pictures of her and Takashi.

* * *

**Please review!**

**~Cloudy**


	3. Lock Down

**Sorry it took awhile, darn school keeps me busy.**

**But here's chapter three!**

**No, I do not own these characters, I just borrow them ;)**

* * *

As soon as his daughter walked into the room, Kichida Hiroshi knew he was in trouble. She didn't just walk in; she practically kicked the door down. Emi didn't get angry easily, but obviously he'd done something that had really pissed her off.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she demanded of her father, slamming her hands on his desk.

"Tell you what?"

"He's back." She hissed at him.

Hiroshi leaned back in his chair, a concerned look on his face, "He's back?" he asked.

She curled her fists, "Don't play stupid father."

"I didn't tell you because you're worried enough. I was trying to protect you. Who told you?"

Her anger dissapated. She sat down in one of the chairs and put her head in her hands, "No one. He told me himself."

"You met him? You were at Kyouya's house."

"He wasn't home so I went for a walk." Partially true, "He was following me. He wanted to send a warning." She told her father of what had passed between them, leaving out a few parts involving her, Takashi and the manilla evelope.

"That's it, you're on lock down for awhile." He picked up the phone, "You're not going to school."

She hopped up, "No! I have to go to school!"

He looked up, "We can have your homework sent over."

"But, what about my tests?" she was grasping at straws to think of reasons for her to go to school.

"That's not a problem. You need to be safe. If you do need to go out, then you won't be alone."

"Dad, is that really necessary?" she wanted to be safe from Ichiro, but then she wouldn't be able to see Takashi.

"The man tried to kill you not four months ago, he back for revenge, and you think you don't need any protection?"

She lowered her eyes, "Your right dad." And she slumped out the door. She had a phone call to make.

* * *

He was sitting alone in his room, thinking about what his father had told him. Emi was involved, did she know? If she didn't, should he tell her? His father hadn't said her specifically that she knew, he had only said 'the Kichida boys', not Emi. His phone rang, it was Emi.

_"Takashi, we're in trouble."_ Were the first words he heard when he answered the phone.

He listened as she told him what had happened. When she was done she asked, "You knew he was back already, didn't you?"

"He just told me."

_"At least you weren't lying to me. My dad wasn't going to tell me. Kanaye and Ryou probably know too. They were going to keep me in the dark. Takashi, he knows."_

"How?"

_"Someone's been following us, he gave me pictures as proof. What are we going to do?"_

"I don't know."

_"I'm not going to be able to see you for awhile. My dad is going to keep me here for awhile."_

"Hm." He didn't know what else to say. He knew that her staying home was best for her, but he didn't like that he wasn't going to see her.

_"I'm going to miss you."_ She said quietly.

There were three words both of them had avoided saying for the last four months, and now seemed like the right time to say them, "Emi, I-" but she cut him off suddenly, _"Bye mom, talk to you later."_ And hung up on him. He sighed, maybe that wasn't the right time.

* * *

"Who are you going to miss?" Kanaye asked.

'Damn.' She thought, "Bye mom, talk to you later." And she hung up on Takashi. "What do you want?"

"Came to see how you were doing." He sat down next to her on the window seat, "Dad told me."

"Thanks for the concern, but I'm going to be fine."

"He could have tried to kill you again, and Morinozuka Takashi wouldn't have been around to save you." Emi had been a little sketchy on the detail of what had actually happened four months ago, "That was luck you won't have again."

"Yeah." She wasn't sure about that, but she just agreed with him.

He stood up to leave, "By the way, we weren't the only ones keeping a secret." Then he walked away.

How much did her brother know? Kanaye could not keep secrets, at all. What would happen if he let slip to the wrong person? That is if he knew at all, he could be trying to guilt her into saying something. He might not even know what the secret was remotely about at all.

She flopped down on her bed, staring up at her ceiling. She was going to be here awhile, what was she going to do with all her free time?

It had been a long time since she had painted anything. . .

Back in the days of living in California with her mother, Emi had taken on the task of painting every room in the house. While her mother had questioned her color choices, she had done a good job at least. While she found enough peace in playing music, putting color on a wall was something more tangible to her. Right now, she felt like painting. But no one kept paint in the house, so there was only one person to call when she wanted painting supplies.

"Hello Grandma." She said into the phone, "I will owe you a favor if you do something for me."

Kichida Mira was an introverted woman, not interested in much outside of art, her seven grandchildren and her husband. When her three children had been young, her paintings had been much sought after. But by the time her first grandchild was born, arthritis had prevented her from painting anymore. She kept busy by being an art critic, if Kichida Mira didn't like your art, you were almost done for. She wasn't sure what to expect when her oldest granddaughter had called her and asked for some painting supplies. Emi was more suited for the musical arts, but when she heard the whole story she understood. Sometimes you needed something tangible to show that you had done something good. But she had doubts on her granddaughters color choice. Her ex-daughter-in-law (whom she still loved dearly) had mentioned that when Emi was trying to think things out she would often do odd things, like paint rooms.

If it would help her granddaughter, Mira would give Emi what she needed.

* * *

Someone knocked frantically at his door, and Kichida Hiroshi answered it. A maid was standing there, breathing heavy as if she had ran a long way, "Emi-chan has taken over one of the guest bedrooms and she's painting the walls."

"Which bedroom?" She told him and he laughed it off, "I never liked the color of that room anyway. Don't worry about it Kaede, she's working something out. No one ever uses that room anyway."

The maid went off in a huff from having to run to tell him, and him just blowing it off as if it was nothing.

It didn't surprise Hiroshi that his daughter had found something like this to occupy her time with.

* * *

A few hours later, Emi stepped back to look at her work. She had only gotten one wall done, but she had managed to get a cool design perfectly on the wall. It was a different take on Yin and Yang, her grandmother had given her the idea when she had dropped off the paint. Now she had to think of something to do with the other three walls.

"Impressive." A voice said. Kyouya was standing in the doorway with his clipboard.

"I see you've come to deliever my homework." She said, wipping her hands on her smock.

"I see you've destroyed a perfectly good wall."

Emi made an offended noise, "Thanks for your support."

"Emi-chan!" Mitsukuni cried running in to hug her.

"Whoa there Mitsukuni-sempai, I'm covered in paint."

He slowed down, "Sorry. Takashi's here though!"

"He is?" she looked around, forgetting to act neutral since Kyouya was around.

"Excitied?" Kyouya asked.

She stiffened, "Oh, no, not really." Then she caught Kyouya's look, "You know."

"It wasn't that hard to figure out."

Takashi walked in at that moment, "Then excuse me Kyouya, Mitsukuni-sempai." And she threw her arms around Takashi.

It felt good to hold her again, but somehow it was bittersweet. He had been contemplating those three words that he had wanted to say yesterday. He realized that now was not the moment to tell her now either. Would the right moment ever come?

"I did miss you." She whispered and gave him a quick peck on the lips and stood back. Her father could appear at any moment, or worse, her brother.

"Yin and Yang." He said, observing the wall.

"Right, Grandma Kichida gave me the idea."

The three boys stayed a little longer before a maid (sent by her father) summoned Emi elsewhere and they had to leave. She gave Takashi one last look before the maid dragged her off.

Why did the world have to intervene with their relationship at inconvient times?

* * *

**Well, that's all for now folks!**

**Please, oh please, click the review button and tell me what you think. I enjoy review I get, good, bad or in between.**

**~Cloudy**


	4. Plans

**So here's chapter 4!**

**Sorry it took so long, school you know?**

**But just a note, words in italics mean the person speaking is on the other end of a telephone.**

* * *

Day four

Day six

Day ten

Day thirteen

Emi was kept in the house for almost two weeks and she thought she would go insane. She had overtaken four rooms of the house before her father had asked her to stop. She had seen Takashi a total of three times over the thirteen days of lock down. He couldn't come over every day because that would arouse suspicion. Kyouya brought her homework to her everyday and updated her on the lessons. Often times he would stay and work on his homework as well and ask her opinion on the Host Club's financial situation as well. While she was in lock down, Tamaki had gotten over his issues and the Club was back open. Kyouya offered to pay her for playing when she got back, but she declined, she didn't want to get paid for doing something she loved doing.

While these visits kept her sane for a little while, she still felt like she was slowly losing it.

"Emi, you can go back to school now." The long awaited words came out of her father's mouth on day fourteen of lock down. But before she could start rejoicing, he added, "But you must come home right after school in the car I send for you."

'Happy feeling gone.' She thought, "But dad. . ."

"No buts, this is how it's going to be until he is caught." When he caught his daughter's melancholy look (which disappeared quickly to be replaced by a mask of indifference) he repented a little, "After awhile, if there's no sign of him, then we'll lessen up a little, and you can stay after school for a little while."

"Fine." She wasn't completely happy with her father's decision, but it would have to do. In the two weeks that she had been cooped up, it seemed as if Ichiro had done nothing.

There was a soft knock at the door. Maki, the quiet head chef looked in, "Kichida-sama, I have a request."

"Come in Maki-san, Emi, please leave us."

Emi stood up and left, she had to call Kyouya.

* * *

"I see." Kyouya said, "I think that will work." And he hung up his phone. Emi had called him, a slightly desperate quality to her voice. He was still getting used to this new Emi and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not. He'd known Emi for over eleven years, twelve soon. For as long as he'd known her she had been a certain way, unpredictable, but somehow like him.

Well, he supposed this was a good change for her.

Now she had a purpose at least.

But he wasn't sure he liked it yet.

He looked down at his laptop, on which he had been doing his homework on, and noticed he had typed Emiko. 'I have to stop doing my homework when my mind is on other things.' He thought. He quickly erased her name and kept on typing, slightly disturbed.

* * *

After Maki left, Kichida Hiroshi leaned back in his chair. Everything about this Yamada situation was confusing him. The kid tries to kill his daughter, talks to her and threatens her, then disappears for two weeks. Then Emi, she thought she knew everything, but she didn't know half of what was going on in her life. She was slowly approaching seventeen. In one month, she would have her seventeenth birthday and that was day the plans for her future would be set in motion.

But the way things were going now, maybe things would have to be set in motion earlier.

That was when his phone rang. "Hello?" he said.

_"Hiroshi."_ The voice of his ex-wife said, _"What is going on with our family?"_

"Carissa, I don't know what you've heard but-"

_"I've heard plenty Hiroshi." _She cut him off, _"Why did you not tell me anything of what has happened in the last four months? Why didn't you tell me that our daughter was almost killed? That he's threatening our children now? That he went near our daughter again two weeks ago? Why didn't you or my children tell me these things?"_

He had almost forgotten Carissa's temper, "I suppose our children didn't tell you for the same reasons I did. We didn't want to worry you. How did you find out all these things?"

_"A letter in the mail, no return address and with pictures for proof. I had to call and see if it was all true."_

Hiroshi spent the next half-hour explaining everything to his ex-wife. Tanaka had come and gone with a suspicious look when she realized who he was talking to. He'd have to explain later.

_"I'm coming to Japan."_

"That's really not necessary Carissa."

_"I want to be with my children Hiroshi. I don't care if your wife doesn't like me. I am their mother and I want to be with them."_

He was fighting a lost cause, "Okay then, you are welcome to stay here if you like, or maybe with Ryou."

_"We'll see when I get there. Good-bye Hiroshi."_

"Good-bye Cari."

_"Don't call me Cari, Hiro."_ And she hung up on him.

"Touché." He muttered, but smiled a little.

* * *

Carissa Hayden had adopted her maiden name after divorcing her ex-husband. She fingered the necklace she wore when ever she was single. It was a single diamond on a silver chain. Instead of an engagement ring, Hiroshi had given her this necklace. She wasn't sure why she still wore it. There was something included in the letter she had not disclosed to her ex-husband.

Their daughter was lying to him.

She didn't know if Hiroshi knew about this tall boy who seemed to be in love with Emi, and that Emi seemed to be in love with him as well. If Emi hadn't told her about it, then she must want to keep it a secret.

Which was better for her that she knew. Emi didn't know the plans her father had for her, and that worried Carissa. Emi didn't like people deciding her future for her, and there was no doubt she would rebel against her father. That was the real reason she wanted to come to Japan, to help her daughter in more than one way.

* * *

Emi paced her room. Tomorrow couldn't come fast enough. She had conveyed her plan to Kyouya to buy her some time after school. Then he had abrubtly hung up on her. She guessed she deserved that, she had used to do that to him all the time.

At least tomorrow she would be free.

* * *

**Well there you go, hope you enjoyed!**

**Please review!**

**~Cloudy**


	5. Surprises

**So here's chapter 5, sorry it took so long. I've had this chapter planned for a long time, but haven't had ANY time to write it down. I was also very downhearted about this story and was about to quit, but inspiration pretty much rules and brought me back it it.**

**Enjoy!**

**I don't own Ouran characters.**

* * *

Emi's classmates were delighted to have her back in school, Tamaki made a big deal about it and Kyouya didn't say a word to her. She wondered what that was about, but brushed it aside, 'It's Kyouya.' She thought. She also silently noted the person standing in the back of the class. It made her angry to know that her father was doing this to her, but she knew there was doing she could do.

"Are you going to play at the Host Club today?" a girl in her class asked.

She stole a glance at Kyouya, who wasn't looking away from her, "I'm not sure Misa-san, maybe."

The teacher came in and told the class to settle down, "It's nice to see you again, Emi-chan. Lets get to work then."

Emi worked silently throughout class until lunch, when she tracked down Kyouya before he got to the lunch room, "Hey." She said, grabbing his shoulder and turning him around, "Not going to say 'hi' to me?"

"Hello, now what do you want Emi?" he said irritably.

She scrunched her eyebrows together, "There's no need to talk to me in that tone. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong Emi. Your plan won't work."

"Yeah, I noticed my father is having people watch over me."

Kyouya looked away, "It's not your father."

"What do you mean?" Then comprehension dawned on her, "You! Why would you do this?"

"Are you trying to endanger your life more than it's already in Emi? You don't fully understand this situation." He said.

"What you did is unfair Kyouya! I came to you for help."

"All I'm trying to do is help you Emiko."

Emi felt hurt and betrayed by one of the few people in her life she felt she could trust. She took a few deep breaths to calm down, she didn't want her temper flying out now, "Just tell me why."

"You're a friend, I'm not going to let you try to throw your life away for him."

"Well what makes you think-" she noticed the glances of passing by students and lowered her voice, "What makes you think that my life is in any danger here?"

"As secure as these grounds might seem to you, he still got in to try to kill you the first time. You were only away from people a few minutes, what do you think would happen if you were let out of people sights again? He could be waiting for you again. I'm not going to take that risk. Mori-sempai would agree with me."

There was a long period of silence as Emi thought over his words. He was right on every point, as usual. Gods, she hated him for that sometime. "Kyouya, I appreciate what you've done, I understand where you're coming from and why you're doing it. But there are some things that you don't understand." And she started to walk away, but Kyouya grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"I can say the same thing for you too Emiko." Kyouya said, "You need to start seeing the bigger picture here, Emiko, this isn't anything like your challenges. This is real."

"So we're to Emiko now? For your information, I know this is real Kyouya, I said you were right, now let me go." She tried to pull away but his grip tightened, "Kyouya."

He let go, "You think you know these things Emiko, but you just don't." and he walked away.

She really hated him sometimes.

Takashi came up and stood by her; how did he come up out of nowhere like that? She looked up at him, "How much did you hear?"

"Enough."

She turned and buried her face in his chest, "I hate him."

"No you don't." he stroked her hair.

"Sometimes I do."

Takashi had heard their entire conversation; it had told him something he didn't really want to know.

She took a deep breath and backed up, "Let's go get some lunch."

* * *

As soon as school was over and she was out of the classroom, there was a man by her side.

"Can I help you?" she inquired.

"I'm here to escort you to your car."

'Kyouya.' She thought, anger boiling at the thought of her friend. "Fine." There was nothing she could do anyway.

Mitsukuni ran up to her while she was be led away, "Aren't you coming to the Host Club Emi-chan?" he asked innocently.

"Not today Mitsukuni-sempai, I have to go home right away."

"Oh." He said.

"I wish I could, but tell Kyouya that he's in trouble for me will you?"

* * *

Kyouya elicited no emotional response when Hunny-sempai passed on Emi's message. She didn't understand what he was doing for her yet. She was so tunnel-minded sometimes it was almost ridiculous. Mori-sempai was staring out the window, as he had taken to doing in the last two weeks. How was it that he really came alive when she was around? No one seemed to notice except him. When Emi was around, the changes in Mori-sempai were so subtle that it took him awhile to notice. He was glad Mori-sempai had found someone like that for him; and he was jealous.

This was a new feeling for him, jealousy.

Emi was right, there were a few things he didn't understand.

* * *

Emi sat in silence for a long time at supper, not touching her food. Kanaye was doing the same, staring off at the wall, out of touch with reality.

Her father broke the silence, "Okay, what's going on here?"

Kanaye snapped back to earth, "What?"

"You two are acting suspicious."

"Sorry, I'm just thinking." They looked to Emi for a reason for her silence.

She shrugged, "I have no excuse." And she picked up her fork to eat. She took a bite of the cooks best lamb chops. Her father was always an admirer of western food. She ate slowly, savoring each bite. Maki-san was truly an excellent cook. Everyone, but Kanaye (he had elected not to eat anything) was done eating about twenty minutes later while she was about half-way done. Something was wrong, she knew it. Everything around her seemed sharper somehow, she felt stiff, but she wanted to get up and leave. Kimi let out a loud cry of glee over her food.

That's when everything turned around.

Kanaye was about to comment on how slow his youngest sister was eating, when all of the sudden she clutched her stomach, "Something's wrong." She said.

Before anyone could say anything else, she stood up, then collapsed on the floor, convulsing violently. Everyone froze, watching her, half expecting her to jump up and laugh. But instead she lay perfectly still after the convulsions stopped. His father fell to her side, "She's breathing, but not for long."

"I'm calling the hospital." Tanaka said.

Kanaye kneeled down beside his father, "Poison?"

"Probably."

"They're on their way."

Suddenly, she started convulsing again, more severely this time, they tried to hold her down so she would stop, but she still struggled against them.

For the next five minutes she would convulse then stop then convulse again. Then she turned blue, "She's stopped breathing." Kanaye cried.

"They're here." Tanaka announced, sweeping a crying Kimi into her arms.

The medics quickly got her in the ambulance and barreled towards the hospital. The entire house staff was watching fearfully from doorways. Emi's maid, Kaede was silently crying.

"Maki-san I want everyone who handled our food in my office immediately." Maki bustled off to do as she said, "Kanaye, call Ryou, tell him what happened." He rubbed his temples, "I want to find out who's responsible for this now!" he yelled.

"Who's responsible for what?" a voice said. Carissa Hayden stood in the door way with her bags, "What's going on?"

"Mom!" Kanaye said, hugging her.

"Kanaye, what's going on?"

"Carissa, Emi's in the hospital."

Her eyes widened, "What are we standing around for, shouldn't we be going to the hospital?"

* * *

**Please review!**

**~Cloudy**


	6. Hiding

**Chapter 5!**

**I hope you enjoy!**

**And I should have done this a long time ago, but I'd like to thank my lovely reviewers Shnitzel, GlassxXxHeart and Nimash! Your reviews have brightened my days very much!**

**No, I don't own the Host Club**

* * *

The entire Kichida family was in the waiting room, Ryou had come over with his fiancé Megumi as soon as Kanaye had found the time to. It was the first time Carissa had ever met Megumi, they were fast friends, sitting together.

"I wish we had met under better circumstances." Carissa said, "We'll have to discuss the wedding when Emi's better."

Kanaye was pacing the waiting room, "What if she doesn't get better? What if she goes into a coma? Or is paralyzed from the waist down?" he stopped and gasped, "Or worse, dies!"

Carissa gave her son a funny look and shook her head, "Stop being a pessimist Kanaye."

A doctor walked in, checking a clipboard, "Tell it to us straight, doctor." Kanaye said, running up to him, "Is she going to live?"

The doctor gave him a funny look, similar to the one his mother had just given him, "We've given her a charcoal infusion, and it will absorb the poison. We also gave her diazepam to control the convulsions. If she survives twenty-four hours, then she will recover, but she will be in ICU until then."

"Can we see her?"

"Only a two at a time." The doctor glanced at Kanaye, "But if _you _want to see her, you have to go by yourself." Everyone was hard pressed not to laugh despite the serious situation.

"I want to go first." Carissa said, standing up.

"I will too." Hiroshi said, glancing at his wife, who shrugged her shoulders in acceptance. He noticed that Tanaka had become more civil towards Emi recently, no doubt due to Kimi.

"I want to see Emi!" Kimi cried.

"You can later." Tanaka promised her.

The ex-married couple followed the doctor down the hall, "You have five minutes, she needs her rest."

Carissa rushed to her daughters' side, "How are you honey?" she stroked her daughters' forehead.

"Mom, you're here." She said, managing a weak smile.

"I'm always here for you when I need you darling."

Emi snorted, "Nice try."

"You know I do try to be there."

Hiroshi came up, "How are you?"

"Everything hurts."

They didn't say anything for the rest of their time, Emi was too tired to speak. When the doctor came in to tell them to leave, Emi asked her mom to call Kyouya and tell him what happened, but for him not to tell anyone else.

"If that's what you want honey." She kissed her daughter on the forehead and followed after her ex-husband who was talking to the doctor in the hallway.

"She had high levels of strychnine in her system. The other food you sent to the lab had it too."

"Thank you."

Carissa followed her ex-husband, "Who's food was it that you tested?"

"Kanaye's food, we're lucky he didn't eat."

"Hm."

"What's with that tone?"

She stopped in the middle of the hallway, "Hiroshi, I don't like this at all. It started out with just Emi, but now Kanaye is at risk? How long until Ryou and Megumi are pulled into this as well?"

"You want something."

"I want to take Emi back to America with me until you catch him."

"You remember the agreement we made when she was a child?"

"Yes, of course, but-"

Kanaye came around the corner before she could finish, "There you are. How's Emi doing?"

Carissa shot a look at her ex-husband that clearly said 'we'll talk later' then told her son about Emi.

* * *

Kyouya didn't say a word as Carissa Hayden explained what had happened. Emotions bubbled up inside of him. Anger at the person responsible, fear for Emi's life and confusion because she asked him not to tell anyone.

_"Are you still there?"_

"Yes, thank you very much for telling me Ms. Hayden."

_"You're welcome Kyouya."_

Kyouya hung up, his hand a little shaky. 'Calm down Kyouya.' He took a few breaths. Why was the world doing this to him? Sending him on this roller-coaster of emotion, centered around Emi. It was all her fault. Why did she do this to him? He had known her for almost twelve years and it wasn't until she was taken, did these emotions appear.

Life wasn't being very fair to him right now.

But there was a testament to the fact that she has asked him not to tell anyone else. That must count on his side for something.

Or she didn't want to worry Mori-sempai and make him blow their cover.

That was more likely.

There was a powerful urge to call up Mori-sempai and tell him what had happened, but he reasoned not to, 'Do you want her to hate you more than she does right now Kyouya?'

* * *

Emi woke up hours later a little disoriented. At first she wasn't sure where she was and why she was there, but it came back to her as she stared up at the stark white ceiling.

"Ah, your awake." A voice in the dim light said.

"Kyouya, is that you?"

He came out of the shadows, "Yes, your mother called me."

Unable to come up with anything better, she simply said, "You're not supposed to be here."

"Are you referring to the fact that you don't want me here, or that the doctors said you needed your rest?"

"What makes you think I don't want you here?"

"You weren't very happy with me earlier."

"Oh Kyouya." She said seemingly affectionate, "Whatever would make you think that? The fact that you betrayed my trust in you or that I was on the verge of all out yelling at you?"

"So I shouldn't have tried to protect you?"

There was a long period of silence; Emi knew he was right but she wasn't planning on admitting it outright. "Did you tell anyone else?" she asked.

"No, I know you don't want to worry them."

"Thanks."

She stared at the ceiling for a long time; she didn't feel like saying anything else to him. Her feelings were still hurt, but she knew Kyouya didn't feel sorry about it so there was no chance of an apology either.

Kyouya walked up to her and put his hand on hers, "Feel better."

"No please?" she said with a grin.

"No, just do it. The Host Club miss you playing, as well as our customers."

She rolled her eyes, "Of course, you would say that."

"Just do it." And he started to walk off.

"Wait, what are you going to use as an excuse for my absence with the Host Club?"

He turned around, "I'll think of something." Then he went out the door.

Emi snorted, 'Dork.'

* * *

The next day Tamaki was demanding to go see his new daughter who was at home with Infectious Mononucleosis (aka mono). Kyouya deterred him at all turns and he gave up. Kaoru and Hikaru pestered him with questions on when she would be back. Emi had talked Haruhi into wearing a few dresses so she was one of the greatest people alive in their eyes. Hunni-sempai asked a few questions, but forgot as soon as the cake came out. Mori-sempai sat in his usual window, staring out. His customers were gushing over how 'moe' that was. No one really understand Renge's concept of 'moe' but Renge and her dedicated followers.

When club time was over, Kyouya had plans to go visit Emi and tell her what had happened. Her twenty-four hours were up and she was going home in three days as soon as the doctors said it was okay. He also wanted to talk to the head of the Kichida family, to see if he had caught the one responsible.

As he gathered up her things, Mori-sempai came up to him, "She doesn't have mono."

Kyouya looked up, "That's what she told me."

"She didn't have any of the symptoms of it."

"Like I said, that's what she told me." And he turned and left.

Takashi did not believe him at all; Kyouya was hiding something and Emi was the one who told him to hide it.

This did not set well with him at all.

* * *

**I had to put the Host Club in there somewhere, I don't write about Tamaki, Kaoru and Hikaru a lot it seems so I just had to get them in there.**

**Please read and review!**

**~Cloudy**


	7. Found Out

**I know its summer, but inspiration is low, so it's hard to update a lot.**

**But, I hope you enjoy!**

**I don't own Ouran, cause if I did, the finale would come out sooner!**

* * *

After two days in the hospital, the doctors finally sent Emi home. They deemed it safe for now and told her she could go back to school in a few more days.

Emi rejoiced at the prospect of seeing Takashi again, but she was going to have to keep of the ruse of mono for a few more weeks. Kyouya would have picked that particular infection for her to have. She was behind on her school work but it wouldn't be a problem to catch up with Kyouya helping her. So she felt pretty guilt free about lying.

Until she saw who was waiting for her at her front porch.

The Host Club was waiting with big smiles on their faces, except Takashi who had a deep frown on his face, and Kyouya who didn't seem to be present.

'Ah, crap.' she thought.

Kanaye got out of the car first, and very gentleman-like offered his arm out for her. She couldn't even smile at her brother, but took his arm. She was going to pretend to be weak so she leaned heavily on him. He gave her an odd look but didn't question her.

Carissa stepped out of the car after her daughter, and saw the tall dark teenager standing in front of the house with a group of other rather handsome teenage boys. She knew that tall dark one from the photos she had recieved anonymously just a few days ago. She didn't know what to feel about this, but she would watch and wait.

Takashi beyond angry. He had been angry at first, but that had passed and now he just furious, 50% with himself, 25% with life in general and 25% with Emi. Life kept getting in the way of him and Emi it seemed; Emi hadn't told him anything of this and he thought that they had trust in each other; and he was furious with himself because he shouldn't have let Emi talk him into keeping their relationship a secret. He wanted to run up to Emi and made sure she was okay, but Emi gave him a pleading look and he couldn't. It wasn't in him to go against what Emi wanted.

He hated himself for that.

When the Host Club surrounded her, she gave them a weak smile, and talked in a quiet voice. Haruhi said that they had come without Kyouya's knowledge and she knew this was a bad idea because people with mono shouldn't be around other people.

"Yes, I have to go and rest." she said, a little over a whisper.

"Tono, didn't you bring Emi-sempai's homework?" Kaoru said.

Carissa stepped in, "That's nice of you, but Emi really must go in now, you can give it to Kanaye." and she carted her daughter away. "I thought you could use some help." she whispered to Emi.

"Thanks mom, but how did you know."

She winked, "Mono, dear."

* * *

Emi sat alone in her room working on the homework Tamaki had brought her, when her mother poked her head in, "Busy?" she asked.

"Not really."

Her mother sat on the edge of her bed, "We need to talk honey."

'Ah crap.' she thought for the second time that day. "About what?" Emi asked.

"I'm not sure how to tell you this." she started out and a pit dropped in Emi's stomach, "But I know about the boy."

"Boy, what boy?" the words just came out of her mouth before she had time to think about it.

Her mother seemed surprised, "The tall one."

"Oh, that one. We're just friends. He's a member of the Host Club and I play the piano for them."

Carissa frowned, "Are you going to insist on lying to me?"

"Maybe."

"So there is a boy?"

"There _might _be a boy."

Her mother paused, mulling it over, "And what _might _this _might be a boy's _name be?"

"His name _might_be Morinozuka Takashi."

They played this game of might be until her mother was satisfied with her daughters answers. Carissa was still disapointed in her daughter for lying to her father. Although she couldn't say that she wouldn't have done the same thing Emi had. But there were things that Emi just didn't know.

"Okay, honey. I can't say I approve of this at the moment, because you haven't told your father. I'm not going to help you cover up anymore. But I'm not going to tell your father."

"I hope you don't expect me to."

"I do, because it's the right thing to do. Keeping secrets isn't the right thing to do."

"Mom, right now I don't care about the right thing."

She sighed, "Okay honey, but you will learn sometime." and she kissed her daughter's forehead, "Get some rest."

It was only after her mother left that she wondered how her mother knew about Takashi. But she decided it was of no consequence, how she knew was not important.

But the thought kept nagging at her. Her mother had been in America, she had seen Takashi all of a few seconds, so somebody must have told her. The only people who knew were Kyouya and Hunny. Her mother didn't know Hunny, so it probably wasn't him. Would Kyouya betray her trust again? She wouldn't put it past him, but she didn't really believe that it was him.

So who was it that had told her mother?

* * *

The anger and slowly faded from him and now he felt nothing but emptiness. Simple tasks were suddenly hard for him. His family noticed and were concerned for him, but didn't say anything to him. They knew he worked through his own problems.

But here Takashi was, sitting alone, staring at his phone, wondering if she'd call and tell him everything. But he knew she wouldn't; that wasn't what Emi did.

So he finally picked up the phone and called her.

It rang several times, then the voice mail came on, _'Hey this is Emi, leave a message and I'll get back to you.'_

Emi had never ever not answered her phone, she slept with it under her pillow in case someone called her and she was asleep. That confirmed that she didn't want to talk to him.

* * *

Emi heard the phone ring, but as she was irritated and almost asleep she grabbed the phone and tossed it across the room. It landed with an all too satisfying thud and the ringing stopped. Whoever it was could wait until the morning.

* * *

**So there you go, I hope you enjoyed! Not a lot happened, it was just a transition chapter really.**

**Please review!**

**~Cloudy**


	8. Complications

**Here's chapter 8! **

**Enjoy**

**No, I don't own Ouran High School Host Club, Mori, Kyouya, Tamaki, Kaoru, Hikaru, Hunny, Haruhi...or anyone else really.**

* * *

Her father had been set on keeping her home for a week, but her saintly mother had talked him out of it. Her mother was now living with Ryou in their second mansion as she wasn't on the greatest terms with her ex-husbands wife. Emi didn't mind, because now her mom wasn't hovering over her all the time.

The woman who had put the poison in her and Kanaye's food was quietly fired. She had been forced to do it because the person who was doing the forcing threatened her family. Hiroshi didn't want a trial on his plate along with everything else that was going on.

He was concerned with the way things were going. Morinozuka Akira and Hanoinzuka Yorihisa had both caught people sneaking around their estates, but hadn't caught either of them. Yuzuru Souh hadn't reported anything going on around his estate or anything else. This Yamada kid was hard to catch. But he was starting to think that there was someone higher involved in this than some revenge bent kid. He knew Yamada Mamoru in high school, he wasn't the type of person you'd want to revenge.

But again, there was nothing to do but wait until another opportunity presents itself.

His phone rang, "Hello?"

_"Kichida-san, I have an idea for you."_

* * *

When she went back to school, Emi couldn't have been more happy to be out of the house. Her classmates welcomed her warmly, all of them wondering how she felt with her mono. Of course, she didn't have any symptoms of it, but no one really noticed, or cared probably. She hadn't seen any of the Host Club members so far, and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

As soon as class started, Kyouya and Tamaki walked in; it was unusual for Kyouya to cut it that close to the bell. Although he had visited her in the hospital, their relationship was still strained. But Emi noticed there was no extra security in the room today, so Kyouya must be conceding somewhat.

She suffered through four hours of classes before it was lunch time. She was having trouble concentrating on her classes, her mind kept wandering back to Takashi. The guillt of lying to him was finally catching up to her. At least she wouldn't have to see him at the Host Club today; her father hadn't lifted the restriction on her movements.

Emi tried to avoid Kyouya on her walk to lunch, but he caught up with her, and stayed unnaturally close to her side, "Can I help you Kyouya?"

"No, but I helped you."

"Sorry, if I find that hard to believe. You haven't been helping me very much lately."

Kyouya ignored her anger, "Haven't you noticed that there are no guards today?"

"Yes I did notice, are you admitting that you were wrong?"

"No, I proposed to your father that the Host Club wouldn't let you out of their sight so you could come back to playing the piano for us."

That pissed her off, "Well, it's nice to know that your still looking after your own interests Kyouya." and she made a sharp turn around and ran off.

All he could do was stand there dumbfounded. Is that really why she thought he'd done it? For his own purposes? No, he had done it for her, to make her less miserable, to make her happy. But instead he'd gone and made her angry. He had to go after her, she wasn't safe on her own.

* * *

Emi ran away from Kyouya, anger, sadness and a sense of relief mixed inside of her. For all these years she had known everything that Kyouya did was for himself and giving him an advantage of some sort, but she had turned a blind eye because it had never really affected her at all. Their friendship (she might go as far to say, former friendship) had never really had any merits for him, so she hadn't cared. But now that his merit system was affecting her, it hurt a lot more than he probably knew. It felt as if their friendship for the last twelve years had been fake.

She sat down on a bench near a rock rimmed pond and started to cry. She hadn't really sat down and cried like this since her parents had explained the divorce to her. She had ran away from them too. After a few minutes she was reduced to sniffles. Wiping her eyes she stood up to go back to lunch; she was hungry now that she had exhausted herself crying. There was a rustle in the bushes, and a feeling she couldn't describe rose in her. Rebellion? Anger? She didn't know what. She bent down and picked up a bunch of rocks, "Leave me alone!" she yelled, throwing them in the bushes, "Why are you doing this to me? Leave me alone! That's all I want!" When she ran out of rocks, she started picking up more, panic rising in her throat. She picked up a rather large one and threw it as hard as she could. It collided with someone with a quiet grunt.

She grabbed another rock, prepared to smash it into the face of whoever it was, and went into the bushes. Sure this was against all the rules of what you should do in a situation like that, but she was spurred on. Sitting on the ground, rubbing his head was Takashi.

"Oh, what have I done?" she asked him and fell to her knees beside him. She pulled his hand away to inspect the damage. It looked worse than it really was, head wounds were always like that. It was really a shallow cut, but it was bleeding quite a bit. "I'm so sorry." she wailed, hands flitting around the wound helplessly.

"You have good aim." he said.

Emi laughed nervously, "I must throw pretty hard too. Lets. . . get you to the nurse's office." She helped him up. He was a little wobbly, so she put her arm around his waist to help him walk. "What were you doing in the bushes?" she asked.

"Looking for you. I saw you run away from Kyouya."

She averted her eyes, "Did you hear what we said?"

"No." A silence fell upon then while they walked back into the school, then Takashi spoke up, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"He's just doing what Kyouya does best, looking out for his own interests." She went on to explain everything that had happened with Kyouya. She didn't say anything about the poison because she still didn't want to worry him. "I should have known it would come to this eventually."

"He did it for you." Takashi said.

Emi snorted, "That's a nice thought, maybe I can trick myself into thinking that."

Takashi didn't try to convice her otherwise; she was being tunnel-minded again. He didn't like to admit it to himself, but Kyouya was in love with Emi, and Kyouya didn't know yet. It worried him that he could lose her to Kyouya.

"We're here Takashi." she said, looking up at him. He had zoned out while they were walking. He grunted, still thinking about Kyouya and Emi. They had everything going for them really. They had been friends for who knew how many years, they were so alike. It was conceivable that if Emi hadn't left, they would have fallen in love. He pondered over these thoughts as the nurse took care of his head. Emi sat in a chair near the window, looking out. The sunlight really made her eyes shine and the red come out of her hair. She was defiantly a sunshine kind of person.

"There you go Morinozuka-san." the nurse said, finishing putting the bandage on his head, "Try to be a little more careful. You'd better get back to class Kichida-chan, you're late."

"Of course."

Takashi got up, "I'll take you there." He wanted to talk to Emi about her 'mono.'

As soon as they were out the door, Emi asked, "Are you part of the 'we won't let Emi out of our sight' deal with my dad?"

"Yes."

"Takashi, I don't think I'm coming to the Host Club today." Emi did not want to see Kyouya until at least tomorrow.

"I'll tell the others."

"There you are Emi." the last voice on this earth that she wanted to hear at that moment. Kyouya walked up to them, "I was sent to find you."

"I should mark this day on the calender. You did something without any merits. Or is there some kind of hidden prize if you bring me back?"

Kyouya was hurt, but he didn't let it show, "Just come back to class Emi."

"Not with you." she said.

"Stop it." Takashi said, "You two need to talk about this."

Emi looked up at him, "Takashi, I don't want to talk to him."

"But you need to. I have to go back to the university anyway." and he walked away. He didn't want to leave them alone, he wanted to stay with Emi and keep her away from Kyouya, but he knew he was doing the right thing.

They stood there for awhile, not saying anything. "I'm going to class." Emi said, starting to walk off.

"I didn't talk to your dad for myself."

She whipped around, "I've turned a blind eye to your 'merits' for a lot of years Kyouya because they never applied to me, but now that they do, I find it hard to believe."

"Well believe it or not, I did it for you, to make you happy. I thought you like playing the piano for us."

"But it still benefits you. You get more money when I'm around."

"True, but it's still not why I did it.

Emi took a deep breath, "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you want to make me happy."

The question stunned Kyouya into silence. Yes, she was his friend, and that's what friends do. But there was something else there, something that he just now realized, "I. . . care about you."

Emi didn't know what kind of answer she had been looking for, but that wasn't it. There was almost a double meaning behind his words, and it shocked her as well, "Lets go back to class." and she whipped back around and walked as quickly as possible to class.

* * *

Kichida Hiroshi checked his calender, it was still three weeks until Emi's birthday, but the way things were going, he would have to tell her earlier. Then, for the second time that day, he got an unexpected phone call.

"Hello?"

_"Can we wait three weeks?"_

"Right to business then?"

_"I don't have much time to talk."_

"We'll see if we can wait, but if we have to then we'll announce it."

_"I'll be in contact."_ and the phone call was ended.

'We'll just have to see.' Hiroshi thought, leaning back in his chair.

* * *

**Well that's chapter 8! I hope you enjoyed and I will have chapter 9 out as soon as I can!**

**Please review!**

**~Cloudy**


	9. Secrets

**Here's chapter 9!**

**Thank you very much to my loverly reviewers, Girl-Kaulitz and Kuramasredrose!**

**No, I don't own Ouran. *Sniffles***

* * *

Two weeks went by for Emi in mostly the same routine. She went back to the Host Club after Mitsukuni, Kaoru and Hikaru begged her to come back. While she still did it, her heart wasn't in it anymore. Her anger at Kyouya had faded and now she was just being stubborn by not apologizing. Takashi didn't bring it up, but she knew what he wanted her to do.

"Emi-sempai." a quiet voice said, "Are you okay."

Emi snapped out of her daze. Haruhi was standing there with a concerned look on her face. "Oh, yeah, I guess, not really."

Haruhi raised an eyebrow, "Does it have to do with Kyouya-sempai."

"Yes, he's a selfish jerk."

"You know Emi-sempai, he doesn't do everything for merits." and Haruhi told her the story of what happened the first time the Host Club had gone to a 'commoner' shopping center and what Kyouya had done. "So maybe you can forgive him for what he's done."

"I should forgive him, but he never apologized either, so I'd rather just leave it be."

"How long have you two been friends?"

"Twelve years."

"A friendship that lasted that long can't just end like this."

Emi sighed, "I suppose you're right." she spied Takashi heading for the door, "I've got to go home, I'll see you tomorrow Haruhi-chan." She followed Takashi out the door, "Not going to say good-bye to me?" she asked.

"Kyouya-sempai, why is Emi-sempai mad at you?" Haruhi asked him.

Kyouya had seen Haruhi talking to Emi and now he knew what they were talking about, "A petty argument."

She nodded, unconvinced, "She called you a selfish jerk."

"That doesn't surprise me."

"Are you going to talk to her about it?"

"When she's ready to talk about it."

Haruhi sighed, these two were impossible. She checked her watch, it was almost time for her to leave so she could catch her train. Haruhi walked out of the door to the third music room wondering if she neded to buy food, but she stopped, something catching her eye, "Mori-sempai, what are you doing still here?" He turned around, hands behind his back, with a guilty look on his face. "Are you okay."

"Yes."

"Okay. . . what are you hiding behind your back?" she walked around him to see what it was. There was Emi, standing there with the exact same guilty look on her face, holding Mori-sempai's hand. "Emi-sempai. . ." and she started to put the pieces together.

Emi broke away from Takashi, "Haruhi-chan, please don't tell anyone." she took the younger girl's hands, "It's a secret."

"I won't Emi-sempai, but who else knows?"

"Mitsukuni-sempai, Kyouya and. . . my mom." she hadn't told Takashi that her mom knew about them.

'This must be part of the reason that Kyouya-sempai and Emi-sempai are angry at each other.' Haruhi thought, "I won't tell anyone, I promise. I have to go or I'll miss my train." she hurried off.

Why hadn't she told him about her mother? Takashi was worried about all the secrets they were keeping, from others mostly, but she kept secrets from him. He still didn't know anything about the mysterious mono she supposedly had, but had disappeared. He wanted answers from her.

"That was close." she said when Haruhi was out of sight.

"Emi, we need to talk."

She looked up at him, "About what?"

"Mono."

Emi looked at the ground, brushing her foot back and forth awkwardly, she was found out and she knew it. "Well, I don't have mono, it was a false alarm."

He crossed his arms, "Why do you lie to me?"

She was avoiding looking at him, "Why do you think I'm lying?"

Takashi took her chin and made her look up at him, "I know you."

She broke, "I didn't want to worry you with the truth."

"Emi, we can't keep all these secrets, it will tear us apart."

"I know, but I can't tell you the truth."

Takashi let out a breath, "If that's the way you want it to be." and he walked away.

Emi felt her heart break right there, watching him walk away. In trying to save him the pain of the truth, she had caused him more pain by lying to him. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she blinked them back, "Takashi!" she yelled, running after him.

Takashi didn't know what to do now that she was refusing to tell him the truth. Walking away from her was the hardest thing he had ever had to do. His heart hurt more than it ever had, more than when he had first figured out that he loved her. He had been on the brink of telling her those three words when Haruhi had interrupted. He didn't want they're relationship to be a secret anymore, he wanted it to be more. These secrets were eating away at him, affecting his behavior. Their relationship couldn't handle any more secrets. He heard her yell his name and he turned around.

Emi threw her arms around his waist and buried her head in his chest, "I'm so so so so sorry. It's all my fault. Everything that's going on is my fault. It's my fault I got in a fight with Kyouya and my fault that we're falling apart. I'm so sorry."

He stroked her hair, "Are you going to tell me the truth then?"

"Everything." she promised, "Anything you want to know, I'll tell you. I won't keep any more secrets." she took his hand, "I don't want us to fall apart."

"We won't." he kissed her forehead, "Tomorrow we'll talk."

"Okay." she started walking ahead of him, but not far enough that she would be out of his sight. She had a smile on her face as she got in the car, when something occurred to her, "Oh Takashi-sempai." she called out the rolled down window, "My birthday is in a week, are you and Mitsukuni-sempai going to be there?"

"Yes." he said with a smile, how could he forget?

"That's wonderful."

* * *

Her mother was waiting for her when she got home. "How was your day honey?"

"Mom, why aren't you at Ryou's?"

"Oh, I came to talk to you before your father could, not that he probably would." She led her daughter into the house and sat her down in the nearest sitting room.

"What's this about mom?"

Carissa took a deep breath, "After your birthday, I want you to come back to America with me."

* * *

**So there's chapter 9! I hope you enjoyed!**

**Please review!**

**~Cloudy**


	10. Family

**Here's chapter 10! Man, I've been getting a lot of chapters out lately.**

**Thanks to Kuramasredrose for replying! Hopefully this chapter answers some of your questions.**

**No, I don't own Ouran.**

* * *

"No."

"Japan is too dangerous for you right now darling."

Emi stood up, "And you think leaving the country will solve that?" she yelled at her mother, "He'll just follow us there, then come back here and terrorize the rest of the family! There is no difference between here and there!"

"Emiko." her mother said sharply, "Calm down. There's no need to yell at me. I know that you don't want to go but there is another reason you need to come home with me." She sat down and listened silently to her mother's reason. When she was done talking, Emi sat there without moving for a long time, "Are you okay honey?"

"You're right, I'll go with you." she said the words made a pit in her stomach as she thought of Takashi.

"I know you don't want to do this because of him."

"You're right." she stood up, "I'm going to bed."

Her mother frowned, "It's almost time for supper."

"I'm not hungry."

"Okay then." she kissed her daughter on the head, "Try to be nice to your father."

The door to the sitting room opened, "Carissa, what are you doing?" her father demanded as he walked in.

"Talking to our daughter, is there something wrong with that?"

"What did you tell her? What did she tell you?" Her father looked between them angrily, "You remember our agreement that we weren't supposed to tell her until she was seventeen? How could you break that agreement?"

"You see Hiroshi, that's why we fell out of love. You always assume everything, then you get angry. You always assumed wrong, then never apologized for what you did wrong."

"What about what you didn't do for us Carissa? You were always a flighty person and your drinking-"

"I quit drinking when I le-"

"Stop it!" Emi yelled over them. This was how it had been in the few months before her mother left, all they did was argue about each others faults, "You're divorced already! Do you really need to reiterate why you two got divorced?"

The two of them looked at each other a little guilty, "No." her mother said.

"Now what are you talking about dad?" she asked.

His eyes widened a little, "You mean, you didn't tell her?"

Her mother shook her head, "No." she said with a very teenage like tone.

"Oh."

Emi put her hands on her hips, "Is there something else you want to tell me?"

They exchanged glances, "No."

"Do you want to know the real reason that our family fell apart? Yes, our whole family fell apart." Emi said when her parents looked shocked, "Why do you think Ryou moved out of the house as soon as he could? Why Kanaye never spends time here anymore? You broke us apart when you got divorced. And the reason? Because we lie to each other. We keep secrets from each other. That's what this whole family is built on, lies and secrets. Maybe that's why our family is in theatre, because acting is just one big, intricate lie. That's what this family is. You not telling me whatever this is just proves my point." and she stormed out of the room, past Kanaye who was leaning in the doorway listening to their whole conversation.

"Well, it looks like you two really blew it."

"Kanaye, is what she said true?" their father asked.

He shrugged, "Well, maybe if you two had stopped being angry at each other, you might have seen the damage you caused your children. Emi was hit the hardest with it. She was a just a little girl."

**-Flashback-**

**Kanaye crept down the hallway toward the stairs. He was eleven years old, and growing at a rapid rate, so he was hungry all the time. He hadn't eaten enough at supper and he was going to steal some food from the kitchen. The door second closest to the stairs opened into his older brothers room. Fifteen-year-old Ryou looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Going to the kitchen?" he asked. Kanaye nodded mutely, "I'll come with you." Ryou said.**

**"I wanna come too." Emi said, opening her door too.**

**Ryou looked down at her, "You were watching out your door again."**

**"Yes. Please can I come? Please please please please please-"**

**"Okay, okay." Kanaye said, knowing she would go on if he didn't say yes, and follow them anyway.**

**Ryou picked her up, knowing she wasn't a quiet child. "Ugh." he said, "You're getting big." he told her.**

**She giggled a little, but they shushed her.**

**As they came to the stairs, they heard raised voices from the entrance hall.**

**"What about our children Carissa?"**

**"They're asleep!"**

**"That's not what I meant!"**

**"What are they talking about?" Emi whispered. They looked around the corner to see their parents standing across from each other, fists clenched.**

**"Why would you do this to us?" Hiroshi asked.**

**"Me? I'm doing this? What about what you've done, what you always do?" Carissa yelled, "What happened to us is because of you." she picked up a vase and threw it at him, barley missing and breaking against the wall.**

**"You're the mother of three children! You can't drink like this!"**

**Carissa broke into tears, "Don't say that!" she took the matching vase and threw it at him too, "Don't say that!" she yelled louder and fell to the floor.**

**"Why is mom doing that?" Emi whispered.**

**"Come on." Ryou said, and tugged on Kanaye's shirt. He had known something was going on with his parents, but he didn't realize that it was this bad. He had never wanted his younger siblings to see this.**

**"Ryou, what's wrong?" Emi said, "Why were they yelling?"**

**He looked into the face of his recently turned eight-year-old sister, she was too young to understand what was going on, "Nothing Emi."**

**"I'm scared." she whispered, "For mom and dad."**

**"I am too."**

**They stopped at Emi's room to put her back in bed, but she hung onto Ryou's neck, "I wanna stay with you."**

**Ryou looked at Kanaye, "Me too." he admitted.**

**So they spent the night in Ryou's room. Emi fell asleep on his bed within ten minutes, but Kanaye stayed up a while longer.**

**"You should go to sleep."**

**"I don't want to." he said, "How long have you known that mom drinks?"**

**"It started last year. The fighting started four months ago."**

**"Do you think they'll get a divorce?"**

**"I don't know."**

**"What will happen to us?"**

**Ryou put a hand on his siblings shoulders, "We'll stick together, the three of us."**

**"Ryou, the way it sounded, mom didn't want to admit that we were her children."**

**"She's our mom, and she's drunk. She didn't mean it."**

**"If you say so."**

**A little while later, he fell asleep too. Ryou stayed up reading and watching his siblings sleep. Both of them talked so it was interesting to hear what they had to say. But after awhile he fell asleep in his chair too.**

**When he woke up in the morning he went down the stairs to get some breakfast.**

**The exact same vases were sitting on the table in the same places they had been before last night.**

**-End Flashback-**

Emi sat on her bed with her knees curled up to her chin. She wanted to go back to that time when things were simple and she could spend a night with her brothers and feel safe. Nothing was safe about her life now. She used to have the best big brothers in the world, but something had come between them after the divorce. By the time the custody agreement was signed, Ryou had turned sixteen and had just a little over a year before he could choose where to go, and Kanaye had been twelve so he only had six years then he had chosen Japan. Emi had been left alone to travel between the two parents.

Someone knocked on her door, and Kanaye came in before she had time to hide. "Hey sis." and he sat next to her on her bed.

"Hey."

"So I heard what you told them."

"Really?"

"Yes, they're still in the sitting room talking about what you said."

"Good. Kanaye, I miss the old days."

He slung his arm around her shoulders, "I know. Things were easier then."

"Do you remember why mom started drinking and left?"

"I never knew, neither did Ryou. If he did, he never told me."

"Great, more lies and secrets."

"Emi." he said, "I know don't like how things are between our family is either, but this is how things have been for so long, that I don't know how we can change."

She stood up and paced around, "Well I'm going to try. Today, I promised someone that I wouldn't keep anymore secrets, and I wouldn't lie. I'm going to keep to that."

"So that's what brought your rant on."

"Pretty much. If I can change, I'd like to think everyone else could too."

He stood up, "That's a nice thought, but you can't teach an old dog new tricks."

"No, I just have to reteach old ones."

He grinned, "Have fun with that." and he left her. He was in the process of closing her door when their father came down the hallway, "She's not in her room, I just checked."

"Thanks, I'll have to look elsewhere for her.

"So dad, what were you not going to tell her until she was seventeen?"

"Carissa and I made plans, when she was younger."

"What kind of plans?"

"Marriage plans."

Kanaye raised an eyebrow, "You promised _Emi's_ hand in marriage, when she was younger? She'll hate you now."

"She already hates me now, but then it seemed inevitable that they would fall in love anyway, so we took care of it then to save them the trouble later."

"You don't mean. . . Ootori Kyouya?"

". . .Yes."

Emi covered her mouth in shock, Kanaye had left the door opened a crack, just like she had used to do when she was kid, so she could hear everything.

"But don't tell her, we're not supposed to until she's seventeen."

"She's going to hate this. Do you want to give her a reason to run?"

"No, but it's not something I can help."

"Well congratulations, dad." Kanaye said, "You just managed to lose your only daughter."

* * *

**Haha, well there's chapter 10!**

**Please review!**

**~Cloudy**


	11. The Party

**This is drawing to a close, and it makes me kinda sad. :( Oh well, that means I can work on new projects!**

**No, I don't own Ouran.**

* * *

"Happy birthday Emi!" a little voice yelled, waking her up. Her little sister Kimi was standing on the edge of her bed, bouncing up and down

Emi laughed and hugged the two-year-old, "You're home."

"Yep yep." Kimi and her step mother Tanaka had been spending time with Tanaka's mother to keep them safe from the attacks on the family.

"Do you know how old I'm going to be?"

"Really old." she said, drawing out the old.

She laughed again, "Not as old as daddy." but the reminder of her father made her somber again. She was refusing to speak with either parent because she was furious at them, and herself.

When she had went back to school she had dutifully informed Takashi of everything that had gone on that she hadn't told him, but she had been able to bring herself to tell him about what she had just learned the day before. So, in a way, she was still keeping secrets from him. She was purposely avoiding Kyouya, not wanting to know if he knew anything about it.

When she went to school, she felt sick and considered skipping out on everything that was going to happen today. Kyouya was standing there waiting for her, there was no way she was going to avoid him, so she put on a neutral face and stepped out of the car.

"Happy birthday Emi." he said with a small smile.

"Thanks Kyouya."

"I'm sorry, for everything."

"Me too." Emi said, "It was all mostly my fault anyway."

"I think we both can take the blame. Are we still. . . friends?" of course, Kyouya used the term friends lightly because he felt more for her than that.

"I guess we are still. . . friends." 'Act normal Emi, act normal. Act like nothings wrong and just do what you would normally do.' she thought to herself, "Well then friend, lets go to class." she hooked her arm around his and they walked off too class.

"Emi-chan! Happy birthday!" Tamaki sang out when he saw them.

"Thank you Tamaki, would you like to come with us to class?" she offered out her other arm.

"Of course my darling daughter!" he cried. Emi cringed at that, but didn't shy from him.

"Emi-sempai!" Hikaru and Kaoru chimed, "Come by the Host Club later, we want to give you your present early!"

"Of course you two!" she felt her spirits lifting and she almost forgot about being engaged to Kyouya for a few hours.

Kyouya sat through class silently. He was thinking about Emi, she was acting like her normal self, not the gloomly person she had been the last week. She sat at her desk, humming as quietly as possible to herself and she seemed happy. He liked it when she was happy.

* * *

"So we talked to your mom." Kaoru said later that day in the third music room.

"And she said that you needed something to wear for your party."

Emi smiled, "You didn't."

"We did." they said.

At first, she had visions of some of the terrible frilly things that they tried to put on Haruhi at times, but when they showed her the dress, she loved it. It was a simple medium blue dress with single flower stitched on one side. "I love it."

"We knew you like simple things, so our mom made this for you."

"Your mom is amazing."

"Thank you Emi-chan." their mother said, stepping into the room, "Put it on so I can see if it fits. The boys gave me measurements but I want to make sure they were right.

* * *

Emi had fun at her party for the most part, the dark engagement still lurked in the back of her mind. She was talking to Haruhi when someone tapped her shoulder. Takashi was standing there with his hand held out and a small smile on his face.

"I'd love to." she said.

He swung her out onto the dance floor. It was so easy to dance with him, as easy as breathing. "Happy birthday." he said quietly.

"Thank you." He pulled her off the dance floor and to the side and handed her a small box. She opened it revealing a necklace with a silver heart shaped locket. "It's beautiful!" she exclaimed, turning it over in her hands. On the back of the locked was written in fancy script was 'Nothing'. "Nothing." she whispered, then she opened it and on one side was written 'Else' and on the other side was 'Matters.' Tears filled her eyes, "I love it."

"I knew you would." He helped her clasp the necklace on.

"Emi." a new voice said. Kanaye was standing there, "Dad wants to talk to you."

Fear dropped in her stomach, 'No.' she thought, 'Not now.' She had known this was coming, but she wasn't prepared at all.

"I'm sorry Emi." he said, "He's in the waiting room in the entrance hall, I'll see you there." he walked off.

"Takashi, no matter what happens, I want you to know that it will always be you."

"What?"

"I have to go."

"Emi-"

She looked up at him, tears in her eyes, "I have to go, but I want you to know. . ." she took a deep breath, "That there's no one in the world that I would rather be with than you."

"Emi I-"

"I'm sorry." and she walked off. She knew what she had to do to save herself.

* * *

Waiting for her was her parents, step-mother, brothers and Megumi, her future sister-in-law. Also there was Ootori Yoshio and Kyouya. She took a deep breath and sat down.

"Emiko-" her father started, but she held up her hand to interrupt him.

"No need, I know what this is about. I overheard you talking to Kanaye."

"What is this about?" Kyouya asked.

"You mean you don't know?"

"No." he shook his head.

"Well then, let me fill you in. You and I are engaged."

Kyouya stared at her in shock. How was she handling this so calmly when she loved another man. "When did this happen?"

"When we were little, about seven I would guess."

He looked at his father, "Is this true?"

"Yes." his father said.

Emi stood up, "I refuse to marry him. Now that that's out of the way I will go back to my party and my boyfriend, thank you very much.

The entire room went silent, "Boyfriend?" her father managed to choke out.

"Boyfriend father. You know, maybe if you had told me about this earlier, I wouldn't have fallen in love with someone else. Now if you don't mind."

Her father blocked her way to the door, "No, you aren't leaving until you explain."

"I fell in love, I don't want to marry anyone else but him. Kyouya," she turned to him, "I do love you, but it's not the same as the way I love him. You are my friend and I can't chose between one or the other. I want both of you in my life, just in different ways. I can't marry Kyouya and if I do, I swear, I'l get a divorce as soon as I can." She looked at Yoshio, "Do you really want me to marry your son if I won't do anything good for your family? Dad, how could you do this to your little girl? Have you already made arragements for Kimi's marriage? Are you going to do this to her too?"

"It is aparent that you have spent a lot of time in America." Yoshio said, "You have a lot of opinions on how things should be."

"You do know that she is coming to America with me as soon as this party is over." her mother said.

"None of this changes my mind about our agreement."

"Well I'm sorry then." she side stepped around her father and ran out of the room.

Takashi saw her run pass, as did the rest of the Host Club. "Emi-chan!" Tamaki cried out, but she didn't hear him so they ran after her. Morinozuka Akira saw his son running with the Host Club after Kichida Emiko. 'Well.' he thought, 'I guess it's time to find out the truth.' and he followed after them.

Kanaye caught up with her first, "Emi, calm down." he said, catching her shoulders and pulling her into a hug, "Stop running from your problems."

Her mother came next, "Darling, we can leave now if you want." she said.

Emi nodded, "Please, lets go."

"Emi-chan!" the Host Club cried when them got there too.

She gave them a weak smile, "Thank you all for coming, but I have to go."

Everyone else came about then, the rest of her family, the Ootori's and Morinozuka Akira.

"Will someone tell me what's going on here?" Akira asked.

"I'm leaving for America, right now." she said. "My parents engaged me to Ootori Kyouya when we were children. I don't love him the way I love my boyfriend so I can't marry him." she looked at Takashi, "I'm sorry for not telling you, but I couldn't."

"It's okay." he said.

"So you two are in love." Akira mused, "I figured as much."

Hiroshi looked at him, "You knew, and didn't tell me?"

"I didn't_ know_, and I didn't know your girl was engaged, so I let it be."

"Emi, we should go." her mother said.

She looked up at him with her big blue eyes, "Takashi, I love him too, but just as a friend, and I have to go."

"Emi, I love you."

Tears filled in her eyes, "I know, but I can't stay here, not with both of you, not with him still here." She buried her head in his chest, "I'm going to miss you." Then she looked at Kyouya, "Both of you."

"Emi, it's almost time to go." Her mother said.

"Just a minute mom." She kissed her baby sister on the cheek, gave a somewhat friendly nod to her stepmother, gave her brothers both hugs and told them that they were still the best big brothers ever. Then she came to her father, "I'm sorry I couldn't be the daughter who would just do whatever you say dad."

Hiroshi Kichida put his hands on his daughters' shoulders, "Don't be sorry. You wouldn't be my daughter if you did what I told you." He hugged her, "I'll try to fix this for you." He whispered to her, "To make you happy."

"Thanks dad."

When she came to Kyouya, she gave him a small smile, "Kyouya, I'm sorry that I can't choose you."

"I'm sorry too, I know you love him. But I love you too, I guess it wasn't meant to be. I feel like this is my fault."

"This was my choice Kyouya, don't blame yourself because we can't be blamed for our parents mistakes." She turned to his father, "Ootori-sama, I'm sorry, but I don't want to marry your son, and for that reason I am leaving. I'm sorry that my father can't see the future, and made plans with you for us to get married. I'm sorry that your plans have failed. And I'm sorry, but you are the real cause for my decision to leave."

"I too am sorry."

"I'm sure you are."

Next in line was the rest of the Host Club, "Thank you for letting me play the piano for you, I owe you more than you know."

None of them made any noises, except Mitsukuni who was crying. They were still taking in everything that had just been revealed.

"Don't cry Mitsukuni-sempai." She ruffled his hair.

"But but but, you don't have to to leave." He cried.

She smiled, "I'll be back some day. After all, Ryou's getting married in the spring, I'm not going to miss my brother's wedding."

Second to last was Akira Morinozuka, "I apologize to you too, Morinozuka-sama. I went behind your back and fell in love with your son. It was wrong of us to do that and it's my fault. I was the one who made Takashi keep it a secret. I know he didn't like keeping it a secret, but he did it because he loved me."

"I understand."

"Thank you for understanding."

Finally she was back to Takashi, "Takashi, I love you too."

The words were out in the open, but somehow it was bitter on their tongues, knowing that she was leaving.

"Emi, it's time to go." Her mother said.

"One more minute mom." And she stood on her tiptoes and gave Takashi a lingering kiss. Kyouya avoided his eyes, this wasn't new but he still didn't want to watch it. Somehow it didn't hurt as much as it had earlier. Maybe that was a good sign.

Her father coughed nervously, "Emi, really. . ."

Emi broke away, "If you have a problem then I think you know where I'd want you to stick it."

Kanaye's mouth dropped, "Emi!"

She sighed, "I'm tired of people having problems with me. If anyone else has problems with me then they can stick them-"

Her mother quickly covered her mouth, "I think that it's time we leave." She bent down, "Don't get your father in trouble honey." She whispered.

"Fine, fine."

Takashi had to watch her get in a car and drive away. He didn't really understand why she was leaving; she was vague on her reasons. If she had chosen him over Kyouya, why was she still running? Why not face this with him instead of leaving him alone?

Kyouya appeared next to him, "It's what she does." He said, "She runs."

Takashi didn't believe that, Emi had changed so why was she still running?

"You're not going after her Takashi?" his father said.

"Why should I? She's made her choice."

"Why shouldn't you?"

He looked at his father, who shrugged innocently. So what could he do, but get in a car and follow her to the airport.

* * *

They were at a small airport, a single hanger and a short runway. They were flying to Australia, then on to America on a bigger plane there. The plane was small, why this was her mother's idea of an inconspicous departure, she had no idea. "Are you sure this thing can get us to Australia?" Emi asked, "It hardly looks like it could get off the runway."

The pilot snorted, "Don't worry Kichida-chan, you'll get there in one piece."

Emi didn't say anything more, she was still thinking about her good-byes to everyone. She didn't want to go away, but this was something she had to do.

A car pulled up and Takashi got out. He had come after her, and the air caught in her throat, tears in her eyes.

"Emi, lets go!" her mother called from the plane.

Emi didn't hear her, she ran out of the hanger and threw her arms around Takashi's neck. His arms wrapped around her and spun her around, "Don't go Emi." He whispered.

"I have to." she said, tears streaming down her face.

"No, you don't."

She looked him in the face, "No Takashi, I _have _to."

"Emi!" her mother yelled.

"Emi. . ."

"Takashi, I'll be back, sooner than you think. Just, give me some time. _Please_." She gave him a pleading look.

He couldn't deny her, "Be back soon."

"I will." she promised.

"Emi!"

"I will miss you every minute of every day."

"As will I." Takashi said.

"EMI!"

She pulled out of his arms and walked back into the hanger with the plane.

Takashi told the driver to pull away, he was going to watch Emi leave. It was just self torture really, but he couldn't help himself.

The plane pulled out and started down the runway. He didn't see Emi through the windows as it passed him by, but he knew she probably didn't want him to see her crying again. He watched the plane take off and fly into the fading light.

Even though she was gone, he knew that it wouldn't be too long until she was back with him.

* * *

**The end is near! (Please review)**

**~Cloudy**


	12. Not Quite Goodbye

**So, here's the final chapter! I really hoped you all enjoyed this and will read my future fics when I stop procrastinating and work on them :P**

**Thanks so much to Kuramasredrose and BEELZENEFF PWNS YOU ALL x3 for reviewing!**

**Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers! **

**I'm sad now. . . :(**

**Now that I'm done being sentimental, I don't own Ouran sadly enough**

* * *

Someone knocked on his door; he didn't move a muscle to let them in. Maybe if whoever it was thought he wasn't there, they would just leave him alone. That was all he really wanted.

"Takashi." Mitsukuni's voice came through the screen, "I know you're in there, you haven't left that room in a week."

Still, he said nothing.

"You can't keep this up."

Nothing.

"I'm coming in."

Not a word.

The small university student slid the door open and came in with a plate of food, "It's for you. Your parents said that you haven't been eating." but Takashi didn't say anything. "You know this isn't how she would have wanted you to live. How long until you step outside of this room? It's like you're. . . you're dishonoring her memory."

Takashi looked at him, "Leave."

"If you loved her-"

"Leave."

"Okay Takashi, but don't shut us out, we care about you." and his cousin walked away. On his way out, he saw the newspaper from four days ago, exactly where Takashi had dropped it. The headline on the open page read, "Small plane goes down in Philippine Sea". He hadn't read the article, "I'm taking this newspaper Takashi." But his cousin was already staring out the window, lost in his own thoughts. He walked out into the hall and sat down outside the room and opened the paper.

'. . . the only two passengers were mother and daughter Hayden Carissa and Kichida Emiko. They were on their way to Brisbane, Australia when the plane experienced engine trouble and crashed into the sea. A recovery team found the wreckage, but bodies have yet to be recovered. The family is not holding a memorial until their lost family members have been found.'

Hanoinzuka Mitsukuni could only imagine the pain the Kichida family was going through right now. The boys and the little girl must be having an especially hard time. But he doubted than any of them were taking it as hard as Takashi was. The Host Club had come several times in the last few days, none of them really felt like going to school either. The only one who hadn't come was Kyouya, he was still going to school.

"Is he still in there?" a voice said. There was none other than Kyouya, who hadn't come to see Takashi at all.

"Yes, he's not doing good."

"I'll talk to him."

"He didn't listen to me, I really doubt he'll listen to you."

"I'm probably the last person he wants to see, but I think I can get through to him."

"Good luck."

Kyouya slid open the door, the older boy was sitting at the window. "Mori-sempai, I know I'm probably the last person you want to see right now, but I want to talk to you." When the older boy didn't look at him, Kyouya continued on, "I found this," he pulled a picture out of out his pocket, "under her pillow." Takashi looked at him and Kyouya handed him the picture. It was a picture of them at the park smiling at something or other. How she ahd this picutre he didn't know. "It was taken by someone following you two, how she got them, I don't know, but she slept with this picture under her pillow. There was also a note left for you." Kyouya held up an envelope, "But I won't let you have it until you start acting how she would want you to act. She would never want you to be like this. You were her strength, and she would always want you to be strong."

Mori looked at him, "You loved her too."

"Yes, but she belongs to you, I think I'll survive. Now get up and leave this room, for her."

He looked at Kyouya, "Give me some time."

"Okay, I'll still have this," he waved the envelope, "when you decide to come out." Before he left he turned around, "They caught Yamada Ichiro yesterday, as it turns out the whole Yamada clan was backing him so they busted the clan and Ichiro won't be out of prison for a long time." He left the room and told Hunny that he figured Mori would be out in a day at least then left the Morinozuka estate

* * *

He stood outside of the Ootori estate early the next day. Kyouya had used underhanded tactics to get him to leave his room, but he was glad that he had. He needed to get out of his room to see that everyone was right, this is how Emi would have wanted it.

"I'll go fetch Kyouya-san." the butler said, "Come in."

Takashi waited in their entrance hall until Kyouya came with the envelope, "It's nice to see you out of your house."

"Thank you Kyouya."

He smirked, "It's was she would have wanted." he handed the envelope, "And she wanted you." and he walked away.

Takashi opened the envelope and pulled out a scrap of paper with an address on it. He got into the car and handed the driver the address. "This is in Kyoto Morinozuka-sama." the driver said.

"How fast can we get there and back?"

"If you don't stay too long, and I hurry, before nine tonight."

"Lets go."

* * *

He watched the other cars go by as they got closer to Kyoto. What was this mysterious address that Emi had left for him? Did he really want to find out what it was? He needed to move on, was this the best thing to do if he wanted to move on? No, he needed some kind of closure, and since they hadn't found the bodies yet, this might be the only kind he got. He looked at the picture and felt his heart sink, knowing he would never see that smile again but in that picture.

The driver pulled up to a house just on the outskirts of Kyoto, a beach side mansion. Why was he here? He got out and knocked on the door. He had barely finished knocking when Kanaye, Emi's brother, answered the door, "We've been waiting for you." he said.

"You have?"

"Longer than we expected to." He let Takashi in and they walked through the house, "We figured Kyouya would give you the envelope sooner."

His stomach tightened, "So it wasn't Emi's?"

"No, it was mine, I gave it to Kyouya. But she really did sleep with that picture under her pillow." he led Takashi to a back door slid it open, "Emi wanted you to come here, it's a good place to think."

"Thank you."

"No problem, I would do anything for my little sister."

He walked out the door into the sun which was sinking lower in the autumn sky. It set the water on fire in a way he'd never seen before. Emi was right, this was a good place. He walked to the edge of the water, looking out, then he felt like he could let her go. Takashi looked to his left at the rocks by the water. Sitting on one of the rocks looking out was a young woman; her brown hair blew in the soft breeze and her arms were wrapped around her knees.

That's when he knew that nothing he had just gone through mattered. He walked up to her, "Hey." he called up.

She looked down at him, "Hey." and she gave him a small smile that was all too familiar to him.

* * *

**I'm not saying this is the end, I might post up a final epilouge, might, but I'm not sure yet.**

**Please review!**

**~Cloudy**


	13. Epilogue: Nothing Else Matters

***Sniffles* well, here's the epilogue! It makes me so sad!**

**Thanks to cookie-pocky-strawberry-love for replying!**

**I don't own Ouran.**

* * *

"So the moral of this story is?" the teenage girl asked.

Her mother sighed, "Does everything have to have a moral for you?"

"Yes, or else you wouldn't have told it to me. When parents tell stories, it has a moral. Besides, you didn't really end it."

"What do you mean I didn't end it? You know the ending."

"Yeah yeah, you weren't really dead and you and dad got married and lived happily ever after and what not."

Morinozuka Emiko laughed and hugged her daughter, "You forgot about our three wonderful children."

"What? I want to know the end of the story!" the youngest Morinozuka child burst into the room.

"Naoki! Why are you listening at my door!"

He shrugged sheepishly, "Sorry Ani, I wanted to hear the story. Dad's out there too."

"Darling, do you really have to listen at doors?" Emi called. Morinozuka Takashi came in with a guilty look. Emi patted the space next to her and he sat down, kissing her on the cheek.

"So what really happened after the beach?" Naoki asked, sitting on his sister's bed too. Naoki had his father's black hair and his mother's blue eyes. He was always at odds with his sister, but they loved each other to pieces. Ani looked just like her mother, brown hair blue eyes, but had this sense of dramatics that was similar to her uncle Kanaye.

"Really? Is my room the new living room and my bed the couch?" Ani asked.

Everyone ignored her, "So what happened?" Naoki insisted.

"They got married and had us." a new voice said. The oldest Morinozuka child, Kenta was standing in the doorway. He was like his father where the younger two were like their mother. He was the only one of the three who had his father's gray eyes. He was a rare talker, but he had started talking more lately. Everyone knew he was in love, but with who, they didn't know or if she loved him back. But they were happy for him.

"But that's a general overview."

Emi ruffled her son's hair, "There's nothing important that you need to know darling."

"How were you alive?"

She laughed, "Well, that is important. You see, we were never really on the plane. We used a decoy plane and your grandma and I wereat the house in Kyoto the whole time. Now come one, it's late. Tomorrow is your first day of High School, you don't want to miss it." She shoed her husband and son out of the room.

"Yeah." Naoki said excitiedly as he walked away, "Exspecially since Souh Ryouta asked me to join his club." Emi rolled her eyes, some things just get passed onto their children unintentionally. Although, that might not have been unintentional.

"Mom, wait." Ani called.

"Okay, I'll be out in a minute honey." she told her husband and went back to their daughter.

"You never told me the moral."

"What do you think the moral is Anika?"

She mulled it over, "That your life shouldn't have a moral?"

"Try again."

"Lying and secrets are bad?"

"Bingo."

"Mom-"

Emi kissed her on the forehead, "Darling, we can talk about that later. Tomorrow's your first day as a senior, you need your rest."

"Thanks mom."

"No problem." She found her husband on a bench in the garden. She sat down and snuggled up next to him, "Our children are getting so _old_." she groaned, "What are we going to do after they're all gone?"

"Grandchildren."

"Not for several more years I hope." She sighed, "Telling Ani our story really brought back memories, and it reminded me of how much I love you."

"I didn't know you forgot."

She laughed, "Maybe now I love you even more."

"I love you." While it had been so hard to get those words out at the beginning, they never tired of saying them whenever they got the chance to.

Emi fingered the locket she wore every day. Nothing else mattered- but their lives, their family and their wonderful future together.

* * *

**And so, that is the end ladies and gentlemen.**

**My next project will probably be a murder/mystery, so look out for that.**

**~Cloudy**


End file.
